Dancing Through Life
by Fox LeFay
Summary: Anna pounces on the opportunity to offer Elsa some much needed dance lessons. (Elsanna, although not strictly romantic.)
1. Waltz

**Disclaimer: I don't own Frozen, nor do I claim to. However, I definitely enjoyed it enough to write some fanfic about it because I'm truly enamored of the Elsa/Anna dynamic. I hope you enjoy this one-shot.**

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She had never danced a step before in her life. There were simply too many risks involved before when she couldn't even touch another human being, let alone waltz around the palace ballroom with one. Elsa walked arm in arm with Anna as the thought crossed her mind. It was a skill she would do well to develop if she was going to make a halfway decent queen. Part of the job description since opening up the gates would entail throwing balls and entertaining the aristocracy of the neighboring kingdoms. The thought of leaving the responsibility of dancing with every young, princely stranger on the shoulders of her poor sister didn't sit well with her on many levels.

"Are you alright?" Anna asked suddenly, peering into Elsa's face as if to bring the older girl back to reality. The platinum blonde chuckled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying to figure out how best to phrase her quandary.

She settled on a diplomatic response, "I'm just thinking about the parties we'll be able to host now that the gates are open. And that reminded me that I'm going to have to eventually learn to dance." Her eyes narrowed for a second as Anna burst into peals of laughter and she couldn't help letting go of a chuckle as well. It did sound ridiculous, and hardly worthy of a furrowed brow. However, it was one of one legitimate concerns that continuously entered into her train of thought regarding what she had missed during her isolation. The redhead's beaming expression and slightly rosy cheeks suggested that a solution might be closer than she anticipated.

"Luckily for you, I've had a lot of time to practice," Anna said. She regained her composure and extended a hand to her sister, "When we were kids, I used to spend a lot of time working on waltzing. Just in case, well… in case you came out of your room, there was obviously going to be a huge party to celebrate your return. So, I was hoping I'd be able to dance with you then." Her cheeks turned a noticeable shade of pink at the profession, but she proudly kept her hand from wavering even as her shoulders shook with an embarrassed chuckle.

Elsa looked between Anna's outstretched hand and expectant face and found she couldn't resist the invitation. She let her sister take her right hand and was surprised to feel Anna also grasp her waist. The redhead motioned for her to place her left hand on her shoulder. For a moment, they just stood there. It looked as though Anna was performing mental calculations. She finally spoke up, "You're going to step back with your right foot when I step forward." Confusion flashed briefly across Elsa's features, but she nodded and followed Anna's prompt.

The first step was clumsily placed against the ornate parquet floor. The blonde grinned sheepishly but kept her head up. It should only get easier from there. The reassuring presence of Anna's touch on her back kept her from feeling too hopeless. After a pause to let Elsa get acclimated, the redhead went on, "Next, I'm going to step to my right and I'll bring my left foot over. You should do the same thing on two beats." She studied her sister's face. "Yeah, I didn't explain that well. Here." Anna gently led Elsa to the right and brought her left foot to her right to complete the line. The blonde picked up on the gesture quickly and the two looked at each other. "See? If you could get me to ice skate, I think I can teach you to waltz," Anna teased. Elsa's face was set in an expression of such seriousness that seemed so out of place with the lighthearted steps that Anna had to control another fit of giggles. Seeing her sister so out of her element was something brand new and, frankly, adorable to her. She was still trying so hard to be perfect even when it was a clearly foreign experience. Figuring that she was just itching to plow ahead, the princess nonchalantly mentioned the next step, "I'll step back with my right foot and you'll step forward with yours. And cheer up a bit, wouldya? No one'll ever want to dance with you if you grimace at them like that." She playfully tapped Elsa's chin before taking the next step.

When Elsa moved forward, her foot caught and she stumbled. It was a small mistake, easily corrected by Anna pulling her sister closer into a more secure hold. However, the queen's crystal blue eyes opened wide at the error and anyone would have thought she was watching a priceless vase she had bumped into shatter into a million pieces. The shock of the blunder caused her palms to grow cold with a small surge of magic. Anna's right hand recoiled instinctively at the sudden chill but she attempted to bring it right back when she realized what had happened. The _last_ thing she wanted was to give Elsa the impression that she was afraid of her powers.

The impression had already been made. The brief incident caused Elsa to back up, her gaze beseeching forgiveness, "I'm sorry, Anna. Maybe this was a bad idea."

Anna groaned and took Elsa's hand once again, wrapping her arm against the small of her older sister's back, "The only bad idea here would be me letting you slink back into the shadows just because you tripped. I'm an absolute klutz but you don't see me hiding whenever I nearly fall on my face." She grinned as she tried to lead the queen through the motions once again.

"But you don't have powers," Elsa snapped, breaking hold for what Anna assumed was the last time. "If you slip up, there's no chance that you could hurt the person you love most," her tone was infused with a forced bite of venom, but it wasn't masking the tremor in her voice. She was trying desperately to level out her emotions. Fear rolled off of her frame like fog from a glacier. Each step backwards she took made Anna's heart ache. And here she had thought things were going so well.

With the blonde inching closer towards the door, Anna knew she had to say something. She exhaled, gathering her courage, "I thought we had been over this. Are you forgetting that I jumped in front of a blade to save you? I didn't think I'd survive because I hadn't expected that my love for you would mean anything. But it did. If I had to, I'd stand between you and a hundred swords." The princess noticed that Elsa had finally stopped her retreat and looked down, averting eye contact. Anna took the chance to close the gap and grasped her sister's hand, gently bringing her lips to her pale knuckles, "I'm not _afraid_ of you, Elsa." She stared into the wide blue eyes in front of her and noticed, with a satisfied smile, that the queen was relaxing.

They had only been properly reunited for a few days and whenever the blonde's face erupted into a beam of sunny optimism, it gave Anna hope that perhaps they could make up for lost time. Over the years, they had missed out on so much together. Elsa was so afraid of herself, and absolutely terrified of doing anything to hurt her sister, that even in this very moment, she was in danger of slipping back into the isolation found in her chambers. But she had never had a positive voice to drown out the doubts before. Every smile that the queen couldn't hold back felt like a personal victory for Anna. Finally, perhaps her powers wouldn't saddle her with crushing guilt.

"Anna, you're a bit of an idiot sometimes," Elsa admitted, although her lighthearted pitch kept the comment at the level of a glancing blow. She appeared to have returned to an emotional cruise control and continued, "I appreciate what you did, but what makes you think I'd want you to risk your life for me again? When you died, I…" The memory was much too clear. She wasn't sure if Anna remembered any of her concise time encased in ice. For Elsa, she knew it would never completely fade. Her entire body had quaked with sobs as she embraced the figure of her little sister and for every ounce of white-hot anger building up inside of her that prompted her to end Hans's miserable existence right there was a pound of grief and culpability that rendered her immobile. She had killed Anna. She had planted the ice in her heart and she was left to behold the exquisite sculpture she had become. It was going to take an entire team of ice harvesters to pry her away from her unintentional masterpiece and in a moment she dared not hope for, Anna returned to her, freckles, rosy cheeks, pigtails and all. At that second, she couldn't wipe the tears away fast enough. She knew then that she couldn't bear any more close calls, "…I vowed that I would never hurt you like that again. I'd never let you put yourself between me and what frightened me because _nothing_ could scare me more than losing you for good." The sincere admission left Anna somewhat speechless. Her clever remark melted on her tongue like a snowflake.

"I was… uh, going for chival—" Anna begun, but she was silenced by the feeling of Elsa's grasp on her shoulders and a kiss on her forehead.

"I know. Thank you," the queen said, delicately. She removed her right hand from Anna's shoulder and sought out her sister's hand to return to hold, "Now, I believe you were halfway through teaching me how to dance?"


	2. Accompaniment

**I had fully intended this to be a one-shot, but I came up with two more chapters I was itching to write for this saga, so bear with me. I still don't own Frozen. Reviews are appreciated so I can know where to improve for the next chapter.**

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Anna hadn't expected Elsa to take her lessons to heart quite as passionately as she did. The first time she passed by the other girl's open door to see her quietly tracing a square in front of her bed, she quickly pressed her hand to her mouth and nose to silence a snort. She wasn't sure how long Elsa had been practicing, but her footwork seemed much steadier and her silhouette in the moonlight-soaked chamber seemed almost too graceful to believe. The redhead sighed in disappointment when the obviously frazzled queen asked her to leave, as she was too self-conscious to continue on otherwise. Like everything in the blonde's life, she was taking meticulous steps to ensure that she was perfectly in control during each passing moment. And frankly, Anna thought with a huff, she was completely missing the point.

Dance was a spontaneous meeting of two minds. It was meant to be relaxing after a stressful evening or romantic before the right words surfaced. If Elsa went into a dance with anywhere near the levels of anxiety and structure she was showcasing right now, it would simply never work. Since the princess knew her concerns would be considered only briefly in theory and tossed away in practice, she hatched a plan that sent her into the stables for backup.

When Anna arrived in the stables, she found Kristoff splitting a carrot with Sven, just like he did every other weekend afternoon around two. Luckily, he was a man of his habits and very easy to track down when he wasn't off on some ridiculous matter of self-imposed "palace ice business". He flashed a lopsided grin in Anna's direction when she entered and parted with the rest of his portion of the carrot into the maw of his thrilled reindeer companion.

"What brings you here?" he asked with a mock bow. Usually, her visits were prefaced by some loud shouting of his name so that he would be completely prepared for one of her notoriously energetic entrances. Today she played the part of the lamb. The glint in her eyes, though, made it perfectly clear that there was mischief afoot. He wasn't sure what part he could play in what he could only imagine was a prank on the queen that wouldn't result in him needing at least a week to thaw out properly, but he was willing to indulge Anna.

"Elsa," the girl said absentmindedly, her eyes wandering around the barn in search of something. Kristoff crossed his arms and leaned up against Sven's stall as the reindeer made a knowing chuckling sound.

"I figured you were plotting something for your sister. That goes without saying. You mind cluing me in?" he tried again, "Because I might be able to help your search." There was a slumped stack of his possessions in the corner nearest the door and Anna caught sight of exactly what she needed poking out from under a coat of his.

"The lute!" she cried, and her sudden interest in the musical instrument made the blonde mountain man cringe and he defensively ran to its side.

"Hey hey hey, not after the last time," he said, grabbing the stringed instrument and holding it close, "I paid good money for this one."

Anna rolled her eyes at him, "So, you know how to play it then, and it's not just some bizarre prop the love experts gave you so you could be more attractive to the ladies?"

Kristoff laughed sardonically at the joke and looked over the lute, "I'm not the best in the world, but I can get by. Though I do look pretty good with it, don't I?" He demonstrated a few chords and glanced up at Anna expectantly, "Not sure I'd make a good enough audience for the queen, so if you need some last minute entertainment for a party, I'd suggest searching elsewhere."

The redhead didn't need much time for consideration. However, she did take a few moments to revel in watching Kristoff squirm, "You'll do fine. In fact, I'd say this would fail if I brought back anyone _but_ you. You just need to strum a waltz in the ballroom for me in about half an hour. And consider that an _official_ royal decree." She waited for a sign of recognition from Kristoff before she took off, unable to keep the smile from breaking over her face. The easy part of the plan was already taken care of. All she had to do now was coax the hesitant Elsa back onto the ballroom floor.

As she roamed the hallways, she poked her head into every half-opened door in the massive castle and found herself queenless and on the verge of leaving the poor, bewildered Kristoff standing alone in the ballroom with his lute and a mound of questions. She peered into the very last room on the floor, squinting to survey the furthest, darkest corner to check if Elsa was perhaps trying to find a moment of solitude before she heard a voice behind her.

"…Anna?" Elsa asked with more than a dash of suspicion, her eyebrow arching to punctuate the sentiment. Her sister pulled back from the study immediately and spun around to face her.

"Just the girl I was looking for. Hey!" her jumpiness was obviously not doing her any favors in terms of making Elsa feel at ease, so she decided to just go ahead and try a direct approach, hoping to drive the blonde's eyebrow back down before it froze that way, "I was hoping we could practice together today? After I saw you last night, I figured you might want to partner up again and try something a little faster?" Anna put on the doe eyes she had worked so hard on. It was the look that Elsa always claimed should be illegal. It was administered with such deadly accuracy and in just the right dosage each time that her sister never had the time to develop a resistance to it.

The blonde grumbled under her breath but allowed herself to be taken down a flight of stairs into the ballroom by her deviously skipping sister.

When they opened the door, Elsa's expression of shock at seeing Kristoff standing off to the side with his lute in hand was only matched by Kristoff's own look of terror and bewilderment when he realized exactly what Anna wanted of him. Before the queen could ask in a quivering voice what was going on, Anna stepped in.

"Dancing with music and a real tempo is the next stage, so I asked Kristoff to come here and play for us. I figured you wouldn't mind because you know him," the redhead said, taking Elsa's hands and bringing her into the center of the room. Kristoff stirred, taking on a playfully offended air but realizing that speaking up would probably send Elsa into a panic. He did his best to blend into the background while he dutifully played a simple song in the style of a waltz.

Elsa mustered all of her poise and got into hold begrudgingly. She glared at Anna and leaned in to hiss, "Why are you doing this to me?" Her lips were formed into a grimace that said she was a step away from throwing the kingdom into another unforeseen winter but her eyes were those of a little girl barely staying afloat in a lake.

Anna spun Elsa before she decided to answer, "I just wanted you to practice with a better sense of rhythm. You're doing wonderfully, so don't worry." They continued in a simple box formation for a few beats longer before the princess finally went on, "Okay, it was absolutely rotten of me to do this to you, but I had to. You were just so _nervous_ about this and I could see you calculating every move you were making. I had to surprise you if you were ever going to learn how to dance."

The queen exhaled. She couldn't argue with her motivation and Anna thankfully brought someone she could trust to provide the accompaniment, but if anything, she felt much more concerned now about making a mistake than she had before. It was a good-natured thought from her sister, as always, but she resented it nonetheless. They swiveled with some semblance of refinement across the floor and although Anna's countenance remained cheery, Elsa began to grow uncomfortable. It wasn't the audience so much as the feeling that she was being led down the bizarre rabbit hole by Anna in the first place. Sure, it had been her legitimate concern for the future of Arendelle that drove her into this position, but she was realizing that there was only so much spontaneity that she was willing to put up with in a single week.

Before she could finesse her way out of their dance, Anna piped up, "I'm going to dip you now. Did I go over this with you? Don't give me that look. It's nothing to be afraid of, and I guess I hadn't mentioned it before. I'm just going to lean you back and it'd look great for the both of us if you didn't resist." Anna gently pushed her shoulder forwards and downwards and motioned with her head, indicating that she wanted Elsa to do the same. Elsa's back stiffened and the redhead implored, "Just trust me. I won't drop you and I promise it'll look good." With that, Elsa relaxed into the bend and they completed the movement without any trouble. The princess smirked at her sister with a mixture of smugness and genuine enthusiasm, "See? It goes a long way. But Elsa, could you kindly pull your fingers from out of my shoulder?" In the excitement of the moment, she didn't realize that she was digging her nails into her sister's skin. She paled in horror, but Anna brushed it off with a charming chuckle like always.

The dance swept all the way around the expansive floor and after a full rotation, Elsa looked almost like she was having a good time. Her nervous glances down at her feet had finally ceased and she actually maintained eye contact with Anna, allowing herself to smile when she felt particularly proud of a certain step. Anna took a moment to nod to Kristoff to try something a little faster. He nodded, likely grateful for the change of pace, and the melody from his lute suddenly became much more chipper, and noticeably faster.

Anticipating that the blonde would likely falter at the sudden jolt, Anna pulled her closer, hoping to make her feel a bit more comfortable and to keep her in line with her steps. Elsa produced the best pained expression she could muster, although it was clear from the difficulty involved in furrowing her brow that she was still having fun in spite of herself, and asked, "Why are you torturing me like this?"

Anna took a moment to consider before she answered, "Honestly, you just look beautiful when you're caught off-guard." The compliment brought a bright flush to both of their faces and the redhead promptly bowed, "I'm sorry. I've kept you here long enough." Kristoff noticed the abrupt departure and craned his neck to see if something had gone wrong with the pair. Anna approached, lightly tapped his arm, and thanked him. She cast a glance back to Elsa, standing alone and perplexed in the middle of the floor, before she turned into the hallway.

Elsa rushed after her. Any mood swing of Anna's usually went from a sleepy melancholy to an exuberant shade of delight and any downturn was abnormal. So much so, in fact, that she worried she might have done something to offend her sister. She wasn't sure what it could have been, but she knew she wanted to have the chance to reconcile it before Anna had the chance to sleep on it. Luckily, the redhead didn't appear to be in any real hurry to escape, or else she surely would have ducked into one of the countless, labyrinthine passages through the castle that she had demonstrated she had found during her time left to roam around as a little girl. She stood in the hallway and turned around when she heard Elsa's footsteps approaching.

"Anna, don't tell me you're feeling sick!" she fussed, moving closer to her sister.

The redhead smiled. When it came to growing a backbone, she truly had the worst timing. She didn't want to leave Elsa quite like that, but with Kristoff still in the room, she felt her options were limited. She decided she'd at least lie affably to properly assuage her sister's mental anguish, "I'm just a little tired. Besides, that really was a long session. I think I can comfortably declare you a graduate of the Anna's School of Waltzing." She stuck her tongue out in hopes of punctuating her statement with enough devil-may-care enthusiasm that she might even believe it to be true.

Elsa wasn't fooled, but she was a patient interrogator. She wrapped her arm around Anna's shoulders and said, "Then let me accompany you back to your room. I can't bear the thought of you collapsing somewhere because I left you to wander on your own." The queen wouldn't allow herself to be brushed aside easily. As Anna tried to nonchalantly shrug off the help, Elsa countered, "You asked me to trust you in there. It's only fitting that you extend the same courtesy here. I think I'm right when I say shutting people out is something of a sore subject for us both."

When faced with that line, Anna knew she was beaten. She resolved that she'd come clean the moment she realized what was driving her crazy, but for the time being she was resigned to say, "I trust you implicitly, I'm just sincerely tired. I'll take a quick rest and join you again in time for dinner. I love you, Elsa." _And that's the truth_. Anna threw her arms around Elsa's neck and hugged her tightly. She retreated swiftly.

It only took a minute for Elsa to hatch the perfect counterattack. She had stumbled across a new style of dance from one of the far kingdoms when she was absentmindedly leafing through the pages of a book just last night. If Anna wanted spontaneity on the dance floor, then she was going to get it. The blonde retraced her footsteps into the library and pulled the book from the shelf. Keeping the younger girl on her feet would undoubtedly allow her to confess anything that was gnawing at her.


End file.
